Episode 10- The People Whisperer Anneli Blundell

10 Jun

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Anneli Blundell and I talk about the importance of making the decision to start a business and to have it branded in your own name – self-branding.

As a professional People Whisperer, Anneli has been working with leaders and teams to improve their communication and interpersonal intelligence for almost a decade. She brings to her clients a recognised expertise in the field of below conscious communication and motivation. She is obsessed with decoding people and performance dynamics for improved results. Anneli goes through how she can help both individuals and corporations.

“How you show up matters. Your interpersonal impact works like a magnet;it either draws people to you or pushes them away from youand the difference is palpable.”

Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode:

Jane Anderson opens her podcast, "The Jane Anderson Brand New Show," by emphasizing its focus on helping experts increase their impact, influence, and income. She highlights the importance of personal branding and the power of human connection in business success. Anderson introduces Anneli Blundell as the guest, describing her as a "people whisperer" with expertise in communication and motivation. Blundell's accomplishments, including her recognition as a Master Coach and her forthcoming book, are lauded. Anderson expresses excitement about having Blundell on the show.
Anneli Blundell responds to Anderson's introduction with gratitude but jokes about its length. Anderson playfully affirms that the introduction indeed refers to Blundell. They briefly discuss Blundell's diverse talents and personal interests, including her skill at parallel parking and her hobbies of running, salsa dancing, and rollerblading.
Anderson probes Blundell about her transition from a corporate background to owning her business. Blundell reflects on her initial intention to have a turnkey business but ultimately embracing her specialization and passion. They discuss the challenges and rewards of owning a business centered around personal expertise.
Blundell elaborates on her clientele, which ranges from individual executives to enterprise-wide interventions, emphasizing her focus on interpersonal intelligence and leadership development. She discusses the importance of credibility and nonverbal communication in leadership effectiveness. Anderson expresses admiration for Blundell's unique approach.
Anderson queries Blundell about "interpersonal intelligence," prompting a discussion on how individuals may be unaware of their nonverbal cues impacting communication. Blundell highlights the significance of awareness and choice in improving interpersonal interactions and leadership effectiveness.
Anderson inquires about Blundell's transition to branding her business under her name. Blundell credits her business mentors for advising the shift, despite her initial resistance. They touch upon the importance of positioning and the decision-making process behind embracing personal branding.
Blundell reflects on the process of transitioning her business to bear her name, admitting initial hesitations due to feeling unsure about placing herself at the forefront. However, she describes a transformative experience after embracing her personal brand, emphasizing the clarity it brought regarding her niche, passion, and legacy. This shift allowed her to align her business more authentically with her identity, leading to a deeper connection with her work and clients.
Anderson inquires about the process of achieving clarity in Blundell's business direction. Blundell acknowledges the challenge of refining her focus but emphasizes the importance of holding onto key questions and observing patterns over time. She highlights the evolution of her understanding, ultimately recognizing the centrality of interpersonal intelligence in her work.
Blundell discusses the evolution of her business branding, recounting past challenges with business names that became limiting as her services expanded. Transitioning to her own name provided permanence and flexibility, allowing her to focus on her expertise without the constraints of rebranding. She discusses the branding challenges associated with her moniker "People Whisperer" and its polarizing reception among clients.
Anderson prompts Blundell to discuss the benefits of flexibility since transitioning to her own domain name. Blundell highlights the ease of collaboration and the clarity in branding that her personal name provides. She explains how her brand now inherently represents her expertise, eliminating the need for negotiation in collaborative ventures and enhancing her positioning in the market.
Blundell discusses the advantage of branding under one's own name, emphasizing the depth of expertise and specialization it implies. She contrasts this with generic business names, highlighting how personal branding attracts clients seeking specific skills and knowledge. She shares anecdotes of peers recognizing her specialization through her website and advises listeners to consider personal branding for its flexibility and authenticity, asserting that being true to oneself is the ultimate differentiation strategy in a crowded market.
Anderson acknowledges Blundell's pragmatic approach to business branding and seeks insights into her future plans. Blundell shares her excitement about the upcoming release of her book on developing director reports and hints at a new project exploring the concept of contagion in leadership. She articulates her belief in the power of introspection and personal influence, suggesting that leaders' moods and attitudes are contagious, shaping workplace culture. Anderson expresses admiration for Blundell's articulate explanations and encourages listeners to engage with her work. Blundell concludes by sharing her contact information and expressing gratitude for the opportunity to share her insights.
With her book launch on the horizon and plans for a new project, Blundell's expertise in leadership development and interpersonal intelligence continues to evolve, offering valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals alike.

Full Show Transcript:

(0:00 - 3:22)
My name's Jane Anderson and this is the Jane Anderson Brand New Show. It's the podcast for experts who want to have greater impact, influence and income for their businesses and careers. As experts we know that people buy from people and work with people who they know, who they like and who they trust.

So I'm so glad you're here because it's that time again now to really amplify how you show up in the world. So welcome to the show today. It's the Jane Anderson Brand New Show and I'm so excited to be able to introduce our guest today.

As you know, we love to be able to get in sort of under the hood or behind the scenes and find out a little bit about people who have personally branded businesses. And as you know, the Brand New Show is all about positioning and positioning is the way to be able to stand out from the crowd and it's not about standing out and saying, I'm so good or, you know, blowing our own trumpets or anything like that but it's more about people connect with people and they connect with people who they know, like and trust. And I'm absolutely wrapped to be able to connect today with a wonderful personally branded person, business owner and so our guest today is a people whisperer.

She's been working with leaders and teams to improve their communication and interpersonal intelligence for almost a decade. She brings to her clients a recognised expertise in the field of below conscious communication and motivation. She is obsessed with decoding people and performance dynamics for improved results.

Our guest today, she's an accomplished speaker. She's an author, a mentor, and she's published two books on shifting human behaviour and that's to assist coaches and facilitators and she has her third book coming out very shortly called Developing Direct Reports, Taking the Guesswork Out of Leading Leaders. Her flagship leadership program for young professionals was a recent finalist in the 2014 LearnX Awards which is just a phenomenal achievement.

For anyone that knows the LearnX Awards, they know the prestige that comes with that. It's a fantastic achievement. And she was a proud finalist in the ANZI Coaching's Coach of the Year Award in 2010 and she's also earned the designation of a Master Coach in 2012.

She has an extraordinary list of other things that she is a member of. So she's a member of ANZIC RE. She has a background and did her Bachelor degree in HR and she's moved into really advanced type work in terms of coaching NLP, team dynamics and training as well.

So I am so excited to introduce to you Anneli Blundell. Anneli, thank you so much for coming along today. I'm so excited to have you on.

[Speaker 1] (3:23 - 3:27)
Thank you, Jane. I was listening to your introduction thinking, wow, that is long.

[Speaker 2] (3:27 - 3:31)
Is that really me? It's definitely you. Thank you.
[Speaker 1] (3:31 - 3:32)
Terrific.

[Speaker 2] (3:33 - 4:22)
You just have done your journey. The other thing I forgot to mention which I highlighted here and I love this about Anneli, that she is a professional people whisperer. She's a skilled parallel parker.

Now that is impressive. And she's a running salsa and rollerblading addict. So I love that.

We get to get a bit of Anneli personality in there too. You've achieved so much, Anneli. It's just such an extraordinary journey you've been on.

How did you get into all this and what made you go down this path of your business? You've come from a corporate sort of background and then moved into your own type work. Was that something that you always knew would happen for you?

Well, it's interesting.

[Speaker 1] (4:22 - 4:59)
I always had an idea that I would have my own business. So I come from the banking and finance sector. I'm a corporate refugee like a lot of us are and I always had a sense that I would have my own business.

But being that I had a business degree, I thought I would do the quote unquote sensible thing and make sure that I wasn't trading dollars for time, my time because that's not sustainable. You can't leverage that. Time has a cap.

You better get a turnkey business kind of like Michael Gerber from the E-Myth suggests.

[Speaker 2] (5:00 - 5:00)
Oh, yes.

[Speaker 1] (5:00 - 5:43)
Yes, that's a smart thing to do and then you can leverage that and you can build it up and sell it off. That's all very sensible and I thought, yes, that's really sensible. But what about if you really love what you do and in fact you're so invested in developing your skills in a particular area that you become the product and what's more, you're now so specialized that you can't even replicate yourself, then what do you do?

So I'm thinking, oh, well, this is not really the turnkey business I expected to have. I've ended up exactly where I thought I wouldn't be and I'm so grateful that I am and I would not change it for a single thing in the world.

[Speaker 2] (5:44 - 6:21)
That's such a massive insight. I think not that I went down that path. I didn't have a turnkey, but there was a few opportunities that came along that way and I can see exactly what you're saying.

There's a temptation because all those things are set up. Oh, great, but then you're the same, aren't you? You just blend in.

You become like we talk about toothpaste on the supermarket shelf and you just kind of blend in. So in terms of the type of business you have now, who do you help and how do you help them?

[Speaker 1] (6:22 - 8:35)
Well, that's a good question. So mostly right now my clients are individual executives, leaders of teams, right through to enterprise-wide interventions. So it might be anything from working one-on-one with an executive, particularly around their interpersonal intelligence.

So this is engagement, influence, impact, everything about how they show up and how that's affecting and infecting when it comes to contagious things like emotions and engagement and satisfaction of the people around them. So I might do work individually. It might be with an executive wanting to influence board outcomes.

That can be quite tricky, you know, navigating the politics and the people dynamics in very kind of intense situations like some board communications or conversations can be. It might be working with teams. Again, what I find is that there's a lot of stuff that goes on within teams that is going on below the surface.

So the overt goals and tasks and responsibilities of people who work together in a team, you know, if they're explicit, that's great. But the stuff that really derails performance and gets in the way or increases people's ability to perform is really the team dynamics, you know, how people are interacting with one another, how they're judging one another because unfortunately we're humans before we are any kind of position, you know, or role. And our tendency is to get annoyed with people.

Our tendency is to make assumptions and judge people and respond to our assumptions and misinterpretations of others' actions and intentions rather than working on that to find out what's really going on so that, you know, we're on the same page and leveraging our opportunities and strengths. So individual executives, teams, and then enterprise-wide, for example, things like new leaders programs. So that's quite a big one for me right now, helping new leaders really pick up their personal power as they're moving into their positional power because moving from buddy to boss can be quite a big transition.

[Speaker 2] (8:36 - 9:06)
Oh, absolutely. And I think in a personal branding sense, I think, you know, the data we see is even some of the things online, you know, like you said, the buddy side of it. I think the average team member has 15 friends at work on their Facebook page.

And that is such a challenge for new leaders, isn't it, to distance themselves in a way that will still allow them to be effective but still be able to be connected to their team? Yeah, that's right.

[Speaker 1] (9:06 - 10:16)
And there's a whole lot of things in terms of their credibility. And I talk about this a lot, particularly with new leaders and also surprisingly really experienced executives because and the topic around this is credibility. So your credibility is making a statement very quickly in regard to your tonality, in regard to your word choice, your body language, mannerisms, all your nonverbal cues.

People are picking them up so quickly at an unconscious level way before they're taking in anything that you're saying. So the whole notion of going from buddy to boss, same thing as, you know, making a presentation to the board or whatever the case may be. If your nonverbal cues are leaking out in a noncredible way, you can absolutely be undoing anything that your positional power might be suggesting you're capable of.

So there's a whole lot of stuff, you know, to navigate the complexity around how people interpret you, how they see you and how your particular interpersonal intelligence can be impacting your results on so many levels.

[Speaker 2] (10:17 - 10:48)
Wow. So I haven't heard that term before, interpersonal intelligence, but it makes sense when you hear it straight away. And so when you do this work, these would be things that you're unaware of, like if I started working with you, if I'm in your leadership program or something, I wouldn't be aware that that's what's coming up or would I be aware of some of it that maybe I've thought about it but haven't really been too conscious of it?

And is this what you mean by those conscious communications?

[Speaker 1] (10:49 - 11:28)
Yeah. So it's actually in both camps. So some of it you're aware of in others because research tells us that we can see others much more clearly than we can see ourselves.

Okay. So you're probably aware of what's credible and noncredible behaviour in other people, yet when it comes to you, you may have absolutely no idea about how that head gesture or how you're rocking from side to side or that flipping little thing you do with the pen all the time is actually sabotaging your credibility and distracting people from your message. So it's our own little things that we often can't see, although we can put it in others.

[Speaker 2] (11:29 - 11:32)
Yeah. Such attention to detail, isn't it?

[Speaker 1] (11:34 - 12:55)
I know. And the funny thing about this is it's the things like we don't, I think we really underestimate our, I mean, you'll be all over this, right, so you've got a book called Impact and you're all about the personal branding. And so we come from a very similar space.

And for me, from my perspective, just little things like knowing that if you use a certain tone of voice with your staff members or with people around you, that they deem to be dominant or condescending in any kind of way. You've automatically impacted their engagement. Yes.

And you may have had absolutely no intention to do that. And typically what happens is we judge other people by their behaviours, but we judge ourselves by our intentions. Right.

So we're always fine. Like, well, I didn't mean that. I mean, you might have heard this.

Someone said, well, I didn't mean it like that. Well, nobody means it like that. But unfortunately, you know, perception is reality.

So it doesn't matter what you intend by way of your leadership legacy or your conversational footprint. It actually doesn't matter what you meant. It only matters what they hear.

And so bridging this gap to find out, you know, if it's a tone thing, if you're quite sharp with people and you don't mean to be but you're busy.

[Speaker 2] (12:55 - 12:56)
Yes.

[Speaker 1] (12:56 - 13:12)
But they read into it a whole number of things that you don't intend. So just being aware that that is even a possibility means you can be conscious of it. It means you can undo damage if you have done some damage.

You know, you can actually have some flexibility around this, have some choice. Yes.

[Speaker 2] (13:13 - 13:59)
Yeah, awareness creates choice, doesn't it? Yes. And you've got such a unique program.

I just think that's fantastic. I don't think I've heard where a program's gone to that level of detail. And that's just so I'm inspired.

I can't – I wouldn't talk about your book because I'll be keen to hear a bit more about that. And so, Anneli, you just touched before on, you know, you were the corporate refugee and you were in this turnkey style of business. But now you've got anneliblundell.com.au. So what was the trigger point or what was it that made you make that shift to anneliblundell.com.au?

[Speaker 1] (14:00 - 15:53)
Well, actually business mentors. So I got some very good advice from people I highly respect that it was time to move to a stronger position around positioning and to move to myownname.com, anneliblundell.com. And I have to say I resisted for 12 months.

Right. I resisted with all my might because I had a whole lot of stories and a lot of things I was telling myself like, oh, you must love yourself. You've got tickets on yourself.

You know, how good do you think you are? You're going to go out there and be anneliblundell.com? Really?

Do you think you're Oprah? So, you know, like because the only people I know that have businesses like that are people like Oprah, Madonna, Kylie, Beyonce. And I'm sort of thinking, do I think I'm Beyonce?

So to be honest, it did take me a little while to sort of step into my own name really, which is a bit weird. But as soon as I did it, the most amazing thing happened because I moved from an entity outside of myself, which is a little bit cold. It's a little bit, you know, it's a corporate identity.

So it wasn't really me. It was a corporate kind of cold identity. And, you know, it has that kind of dissociated feel to it.

And now what I find is when I moved into my own branding and I had to redo my website, I had to really think about who am I and what is my legacy? What is my space? You know, what is the niche that I play in?

What am I really about? And just that exercise alone made me so clear on who I want to work with, the kind of work I want to do, and what I'm really all about. It was fantastic.

[Speaker 2] (15:55 - 16:18)
And for the work that you did to get clear about who you were, it's quite intense work. Was that a long process? Was that something that took kind of a year to get clear on as well, or was that something you just knew and it was just a matter of making it come to life?

Or how did you come to that conclusion that you knew, how did you know that that was what you were going to be?

[Speaker 1] (16:19 - 16:51)
I wish it just fell in my lap, but it didn't. So apart from resisting the whole notion of the move across for 12 months, I think part of it was just not being clear and going, well, because I've been packaging myself under this corporate brand, what I do is I deliver commodities. So I deliver the how, I deliver coaching, I deliver training, I deliver facilitation, you know, that kind of stuff.

So I'm delivering these commodities that anyone can get from anywhere.

[Speaker 2] (16:51 - 16:51)
Right.

[Speaker 1] (16:52 - 17:14)
And so that's, you know, that's really quite easy to market. It's really quite easy to explain. Coaching is coaching.

Perfect. But all of a sudden when you're no longer selling a commodity because you're selling your passion, you're selling your expertise and your obsession, it really, the questions are more around, well, what are you passionate about? What is the thing that's actually driving everything you do?

[Speaker 2] (17:14 - 17:15)
Right.

[Speaker 1] (17:15 - 18:09)
And what is the lens that you're looking at the world through that you deliver your coaching through and your training to and your facilitation to? So you have to really step back and see what is that all about. So for me that was a long process, 12 months at least, and I don't think this has to be the same for everyone.

I mean I'm sure that some people will wake up with a burning, you know, fire in their belly going, oh, it's all about this, and I say to you, God, you're lucky, that's great. But that wasn't the case for me. So it's a case of just questioning, asking those questions, letting stuff evolve and just looking at the things that kept drawing me and the things I kept talking about and the stuff that just kept coming into my world and going, you know what, it's this.

And it was almost like, oh, what's the name of the woman with the red ruby slippers, no place like home.

[Speaker 2] (18:09 - 18:10)
Jesus, what's her name?

[Speaker 1] (18:11 - 18:37)
Dorothy? Dorothy, thank you. Yes, by the time I sort of came out with what it was, you know, this whole interpersonal intelligence piece, the whole how I impact you and how you impact me and how that impacts our collective result, it was like a Dorothy moment.

It was, oh, that's so obvious. It's all about connection. It's all about influence, impact and engagement, and it always has been, how did I not say that.

[Speaker 2] (18:38 - 19:03)
Wow. So it was a matter of kind of just finding this thread that ran through everything and what's this thread. And I think that's something that I certainly see with clients is that it can be frustrating if they don't see it straight away and it's being kind to yourself.

Did you find that you just had to be patient and just keep aware of the patterns that were coming through that you could see?

[Speaker 1] (19:04 - 20:00)
Yes, and I think that's absolutely the key, Jane. In this instance, what I did was I just held the question, what's this really about? What's this really about?

What am I really about? You know, what's my passion? What's my obsession?

And I would just, you know, I'd do a piece of work and go, God, that was fantastic. I just loved that. Why?

What was it about? What was I doing? Oh, that was the piece because I got to impact this person at this level.

Great. That is really important. And then just sort of noticing all these pieces and then looking, what's the general theme around that?

And then finding those words that say, you know what, it's the interpersonal intelligence space. It's the space between you and me. And it starts from within.

Both people have to start from within. But then you need an eye on how I impact you. Otherwise, I'm not a lone system.

I operate within a social system. So it's not enough to have self-awareness. It's integral but it's not enough.

[Speaker 2] (20:00 - 20:01)
Right.

[Speaker 1] (20:01 - 20:18)
So it's taking that to the next level and going, I need to have self-awareness. I need emotional intelligence. But I also need social intelligence.

If I don't know how I impact other people and how the way I show up is affecting my ability to influence, to engage, to impact, then what's the point of having the awareness? Right.

[Speaker 2] (20:19 - 21:08)
And so it sounds like it was like quite a lot of refinement just over the time to be able to get to that point. You know, I think, I don't know if you find it, I find when I'm doing this work with people that it's hard to get clarity. But then once you've got clarity, sometimes it goes to concrete.

And I feel like, well, it evolves and changes. And so it's a living beast as you evolve and change, which is kind of the beauty of working under YourName.com, is that you've got that flexibility. So, you know, as you start to see different patterns emerge and different threads emerge, because you, who knows, you could not be doing that in five years' time.

You could be doing something else. But it sounds like it was just a constant refinement for you until you got that. Would that be right?

[Speaker 1] (21:08 - 21:49)
Yeah, I think you're right. And also, you're right, one of the unknown benefits to me, what I didn't realise is that prior to this, prior to branding myself under AnnaLeeBodden.com, I had two business names. I've had two iterations of business names.

And therein lies a problem. So, you know, my first six years I was beyond coaching because I started as a coach and that's what I was doing. And I thought that was a great name.

And it was a great name. But I very quickly evolved to doing coaching and training and, you know, keynote presentations. And it just became way more than coaching very quickly.

Right. And so all of a sudden I faced a problem where that business name no longer, it wasn't big enough for what I was doing.

[Speaker 2] (21:49 - 21:50)
Yes.

[Speaker 1] (21:50 - 22:41)
So then I moved to the next name. But I found the same problem. It's like, you know what happens?

As soon as you redo all your marketing collaterals and you spend trillions of dollars updating all your branding, I swear to God, that's the day you go, you know what? It's more than that. It's no longer that.

It's more than that. And so the unintended wonderful benefit that I've noticed is I go, my name, my brand, my business is AnnaLeeBodden.com and I'm always going to be that name. I'm not going to change my name.

It doesn't matter what I'm doing. And I might tweak what I write on my website. I might tweak some of the programs I offer.

I might even tweak the major overarching filter that I see my world through. But I'm never going to change my name and I'm always going to be doing this kind of work. So I will never do a rebranding again.

[Speaker 2] (22:42 - 23:14)
What a relief. It's such a relief, isn't it, over the same thing? And I think that's quite interesting about, you know, even things like where you've, you know, you're known as the People Whisperer, but you haven't necessarily had to create your business as PeopleWhisperer.com.

And because, you know, that's more a promise that sits under AnnaLeeBlundell.com, but it's still something that's there but you don't have to trip over that to get to you.

[Speaker 1] (23:15 - 24:33)
Exactly. And, in fact, that was when I came up with that People Whisperer, I was a little bit, you know, unsure about it because, again, it seems a bit kitschy. I'm thinking, oh, really?

Oh, I don't know. I don't know if it's going to fly. Will it really work?

And so I tested a little bit in the market and I had – it was very polarizing. So people either loved it and when they loved it, wow, they really loved it. And I saw all sorts of iterations of a similar thing popping up on LinkedIn.

I thought, wow, it must be, you know, people must really like it. And then I also heard – I've had clients say, you know, look, I'm going to introduce you to my client and I'm just going to quickly fluff over the whole People Whisperer thing because I think that will put them off. But I'll let them know that you're not a fluffy, you know, you're not a fluffy, you know, Guru Swami kind of – you know, that you're grounded and, you know, you're normal and practical.

And I say, okay, good, good. And I thought, oh, I didn't realize it was a problem. So it's either a problem that needs to be overcome because I seem too far from where they are and where that label or word might take them.

Yes. Or I'm right there and what I've noticed at the moment, and I don't know if I'll keep it forever, but at the moment it's getting enough conversation that it's worth it.

[Speaker 2] (24:33 - 25:04)
Yeah, okay. Right, so you can still use it as part of your marketing, but it just doesn't have to be your domain name and the business name. Exactly.

Yeah, great. And you can take it out if it's not appropriate for the market and leave it in if it is and you've got that flexibility, right? Exactly.

Okay. And so what have you noticed as you talked about the benefit of flexibility, have there been any other benefits that you've noticed that's made it a bit easier since going to YourName.com?

[Speaker 1] (25:06 - 25:26)
Yeah, I think one of the things I've noticed is firstly, I've previously done a lot of collaboration. So I work with a lot of specialists. I get called in, for example, on coaching panels as the person who does communication and influence.

He's our specialist person in this kind of category.

[Speaker 2] (25:27 - 25:27)
Okay.

[Speaker 1] (25:27 - 25:32)
And when you have your own brand, there's always a discussion around branding.

[Speaker 2] (25:32 - 25:33)
Right.

[Speaker 1] (25:33 - 27:46)
Do we brand under you? Do we brand under me? Do we do a co-joint branding?

Do we have no brand? It's always this discussion. Whereas now, my branding is my branding.

I can't pretend my name is not my name. So it doesn't matter whether I have my brand on there or not because if people want to Google me because of the work I've done, they will see my name and it is me and it's not a conflict of interest because my name is my brand. Yeah, that has been actually delightful, I have to say.

And also what it means is I've noticed a difference in my positioning. So there's something around if you Google a website and you see a business name and unless you go to the who's who section, you can look at that and go, all right, so that company is providing certain services and they're getting in anybody. They could get anybody, right?

Right. You don't necessarily know that. You know you're buying, maybe you're buying, I don't know, leadership training, let's say.

So you go to a company, you're buying leadership training. When you go to a website that is branded by the person, you're actually going there because you're looking for something in particular. So you're looking for a particular specialty and expertise in a fine niche.

So you know this person is going to be thin and deep in their expertise. And I've even had peers of mine who do what I do call me up and say, I'd like to introduce people I don't know actually, so doing similar work to me but I don't know them personally, have gone to my website and gone, this is exactly what I need. I've got some issues with the team.

It's not really my, it's a little bit out of my depth. But what you do is exactly what they need. I need a specialist to come in and sort out the dynamics.

And I go, yeah, that's positioning. Yeah, that's positioning. That's positioning.

When your peers come to you for your slice of obsession, that's positioning.

[Speaker 2] (27:46 - 28:36)
Yeah, I like what you said. It's thin but you're going so deep. And then you've got the adaptability to go across those different markets, don't you, because you really do have such a deep knowledge of that.

It's just the application in this environment. Yes. Right.

And so if someone's listening to this and thinking about considering building their business or creating a business going, oh, do I go on to myname.com or would I go on a business name, what would your advice be for them? I would say if you can get your head around it, do it sooner than later.

[Speaker 1] (28:37 - 29:28)
There's something about the all-encompassing flexibility of branding under your own name in terms of your business can go wherever you go. In the age of commoditisation and everything's available and we're really trying to stand out and everyone's trying to stand out. They're trying to stand out from the noise and differentiate.

You can't be any more different than if you just be you. I mean it sounds so simple and almost a bit trite, but the best way to be different is to just be you. Yes.

So why wouldn't branding as you be the ultimate in positioning and it gives you the ultimate flexibility to grow and develop and adapt who you are and what it is you want to do in the world?

[Speaker 2] (29:29 - 29:29)
Yes.

[Speaker 1] (29:29 - 29:36)
So I think in terms of flexibility and plus trust me, trust me, you will save oodles of cash.

[Speaker 2] (29:36 - 29:37)
Absolute ratings.

[Speaker 1] (29:38 - 29:47)
Absolutely. Oodles of cash and time and time and going through every document that you've ever done and rebranding. Oh, don't even get me started.

Don't get me started.

[Speaker 2] (29:48 - 29:58)
I hear you. I totally hear you, Anjali. It's refreshing to go, oh, wow, why didn't I do this years ago?

Why didn't someone tell me this?

[Speaker 1] (29:59 - 29:59)
Yes.

[Speaker 2] (30:00 - 30:49)
And I don't know about you, but I find sometimes people are a bit scared that they're going to play too small. They're trying to say, well, what if I want to build a really big business? If I have my name, won't it appear like I'm just a micropreneur, a solopreneur?

Well, the first thing is you can still turn over a significant salary and you can still pull a significant income under yourname.com. Then I don't know about you, but I say, well, look at Brian Tracy. There's only one Brian Tracy, but he's got Brian Tracy International and he's been around a long time and he's got a huge business, an international business.

So is that what you would find as well, that it doesn't restrict you for how big you want to grow? Absolutely.

[Speaker 1] (30:50 - 31:44)
And I think too as well as that, it gives you untold flexibility actually because you can, if you've got the positioning right, as I said before, you can get called in to do high value work for as in high value to the organisation or to the client and high value to you. It's a wonderful exchange because you're doing very specialist work. So you would expect, it's like the difference between being, I don't know, a GP and a specialist surgeon.

Yes. So you're still trading time for money. You're still turning up in the same way, but why wouldn't you position yourself in a way that means you can do the exact kind of work you want to do in the exact kind of way you want for the kind of value that suits your positioning?

Why wouldn't you do that?

[Speaker 2] (31:45 - 32:35)
There's just so much in this, Anneli, and I love how you articulate it. You can tell how pragmatic you are with this and so it's so refreshing to hear it and I'm sure that for those listening would be going, oh, yeah, I need to go and check out Anneli's site so I can see what she's talking about. So particularly you've done that journey yourself and like you, I've spent a lot of money on collaterals and marketing and rebuilding websites and taking this program down and put this one up and there's a lot of self-doubt that sometimes comes because it takes so much longer.

So I'd love to know what your plans are for the next 12 to 18 months. You've got your book coming out shortly so I'd love to know a bit about that and what else is on the radar for you?

[Speaker 1] (32:36 - 34:58)
Yeah, absolutely. So the book is coming out. So the developing director reports is almost hot off the press.

We should be expecting the ability to buy that through Amazon in August. So that's coming out soon which is terrific. Great.

I've got quite a lot of writing on the go at the moment so apart from the normal client work, the things that I'm most excited about is A, the book because it's been four years of my life and I'm ready to give birth to this baby. And so are my two co-authors. We're all very excited.

The second thing is my next book project which is embryonic but it's taking shape slowly and this is around the notion of contagion. So something like contagion, how leaders spread a culture of engagement, high performance and satisfaction in the workplace. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And so what I'm really excited about this is this notion of the impact. Again, it's that interpersonal intelligence piece, right?

So does the leader, do you realise as a leader that you are contagious? Your moods are contagious. Your attitudes are contagious.

And so typically what we find is we're always talking about how do we impact other people? How do we drive engagement? How do we influence others?

How do we invite them to step into the best versions of themselves when we're developing leaders? And really for me the answer is stop looking outside at the other person and start looking inside and going, well, you're setting the tone. The way you think about someone, if you think they're capable and you have high belief in their capability even though they don't, you single-handedly invite them into a greater version of themselves and the opposite is true.

If you think they're crap and you don't buy into their capability at all, chances are that when they're around you, everything will go wrong. So not only are your moods contagious but your expectations are contagious. So if we just sort of stop thinking about others and sort of start inward a little bit more and start thinking about, all right, if I want to drive engagement, what is it that I'm doing?

How am I impacting this engagement? I think we see the power of contagion at its best. So that's my big project for the next 12 to 18 months.
[Speaker 2] (34:59 - 35:34)
Well, we'll be keeping an eye out for that one. That sounds like such an exciting project and, you know, the way you articulate this stuff I think, you know, people go, yeah, I haven't really thought about it that way before. Do you find that?

Yeah, yes, I do. I hear that a lot and I think, oh, really good, what did I say? Quick, write it down.

So, Anneli, I'm sure that there will be people listening who will want to find out more about the work that you're doing and to be inspired by you as well. So what's the best way for people to find you?

[Speaker 1] (35:35 - 35:59)
My website, which is www.drumroll, yes, yes, it's AnneliBlundell.com. It's A-N-N-E-L-I, Blundell, B-L-U-N-D-E-L-L dot com and all the information's on there. Knock yourself out.

Love to say hello. So if you want to shoot me an email, if there's anything I can do, happy to engage, help out anywhere I can.

[Speaker 2] (35:59 - 36:08)
Fantastic. We do talk a little bit about LinkedIn with some guests. And you're on LinkedIn, you put your posts on LinkedIn.

Can people follow you there too?

[Speaker 1] (36:09 - 36:39)
Oh, absolutely, yes. So I'm a little bit prolific on LinkedIn, I'm afraid, yes. I do lots of blog posts and lots of great conversations.

I'm constantly posting articles and videos and my own work and other people's work that I see around this space, so definitely on LinkedIn. Also on Twitter, I'm at Anneli Blundell on Twitter and, of course, my website. So they're probably the main three ways that you can get in touch with me.

Okay. Fantastic.

[Speaker 2] (36:40 - 37:08)
Well, thank you so much for inspiring us all today. What a wonderful way to, it's the end of the week here. Some people might not be listening to it at the end of the week.

It might be the start of the week, so you get to kick off your week with Anneli. That's an exciting start to the week. But thank you so much for joining us.

We know how busy you are. You've got so much exciting stuff on the go. So thank you for sharing your wisdom with us and I know you'll have inspired a lot of people out there.

So thank you very, very much.

[Speaker 1] (37:09 - 37:11)
It's been my great pleasure. Thank you, Jane. Appreciate it.